International Men’s Day is celebrated worldwide every year on November 19. It
began in 1999, founded by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, with a focus on six key pillars:
1. Promoting positive male role models.
2. Celebrating men’s positive contributions to society, family and the community.
3. Focusing on men’s health and well-being (physical, mental and emotional).
4. Highlighting discrimination against men in areas of social services, legal/family
systems and expectations.
5. Improving gender relations and promoting gender equality.
6. Creating a safe more supportive world.
For over 15 years, Real Men Charities has hosted community discussions and events to recognize and introduce individuals whose work aligns with these pillars and reflects what the nonprofit and the Real Men Cook brand represent. A global day becomes meaningful when we practice its values in the sanctuary, on the block, in meeting halls, and across borders. This year RMC recognizes organizations that go beyond Chicago and into the world to make a difference. All are invited to the annual event on Thursday, November 19th at the Quarry, where proceeds contribute to community-based initiatives that change actions and circumstances for the better For event details and ticket information visit: https://tinyurl.com/384rpraw
In honor of International Men’s Day, we recognize the following organizations whose work and contributions make every day a day of global support, mentorship and bettering the lives of boys and men.
Africa House International, producers of the African Festival of the Arts, brought the diaspora to Chicago
Founded in 1989 by Liberian-born Patrick Woodtor, the African Festival of the Arts has grown into the nation’s largest Labor Day celebration of the global African diaspora. Each year, Washington Park fills with more than 200 vendors and stages for music, drumming, dance, fashion, food, and literature, drawing guests from across Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Presented by Africa International House, the festival turns culture into homecoming: a place where the continent and its diaspora meet, and where Chicago’s South Side hosts the world. Exciting programming continues throughout the year.www.aihusa.org
Blacknuss Network / Blacknuss.tv / BFM Magazine Founded by Chicago filmmaker, producer, writer, and curator Floyd Webb, the Blacklight Film Festival of International Black Cinema began in 1982. Its legacy continues through Black World Cinema, Blacknuss Network/Blacknuss.tv, and BFM
Magazine (BFMMAG.com), established in London in 1994 through Webb’s international collaboration with pioneering British filmmaker Menelik Shabazz. Together, these organizations provide platforms for the exhibition,
preservation, promotion, and distribution of independent Black cinema from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Their work connects a century of Black filmmaking, from Oscar Micheaux to Nollywood and contemporary global cinema. Webb’s next Chicago screening is Legally Drugged, October 23 at Chicago Filmmakers. Chicago Filmmakers 1326 W. Hollywood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660
Blacknussnetwork.com | Blacknuss.tv | BFMMAG.com | BlackWorldCinema.net
Black Brilliance and Excellence Movement turns boys into champions
The Brilliance and Excellence movement is the official backbone organization for MBK Chicago (My Brother’s Keeper Alliance), supported by the Obama Foundation.
Vondale Singleton, its chief executive and founder of C.H.A.M.P.S.—Culturally Helping And Making Positive Success–, co-founded it. Singleton grew up in the Ida B. Wells housing projects and became a first-generation college graduate and educator.
His mentoring program, whose students’ short film was once showcased at the White House, works to educate,empower and expose African American and Latino young men to possibility. Singleton, an Obama Foundation Leader and Global Ambassador in the global network, has carried a South Side mentorship model onto the world stage— proof that believing boys are “born to win” is a message without borders.
Leave No Veteran Behind turns service abroad into service at home
Two South Side Army veterans, Eli Williamson and Roy Sartin, founded Leave No Veteran Behind in 2009. They met while serving in Afghanistan and came home determined to help fellow veterans.
Its Retroactive Scholarship pays down qualifying veterans’ student-loan debt—debt the GI Bill did not cover—in exchange for 100 to 400 hours of community service.
Now a national model, its veterans provide SafePassage for Chicago Public Schools students and mentor youth in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, turning service to country into service to community. www.leavenoveteranbehind.org
The Nation of Islam carries a South Side message to the world
The international headquarters of the Nation of Islam is at Mosque Maryam on Chicago’s South Side. The Nation of Islam has grown from its 1930 founding into a movement with a worldwide following—its 1995 Million Man March drew men from across the globe to Washington, D.C. Led by Minister Louis Farrakhan, who has headed the organization since 1981. Through its mosques, schools and publications,the Nation carries a message of self-reliance, discipline and moral responsibility beyond America’s borders: manhood as accountability made visible. www.noi.org
The Nigerian Islamic Association bridges Chicago and Nigeria
The Nigerian Islamic Association of the USA, based in Chicago, serves the Nigerian Muslim diaspora while keeping one foot firmly planted in the homeland. Its Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Professor Shaffideen Adeniyi Amuwo, a Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has spent decades linking public health, education and faith across two continents. The association’s members have stood with Chicago’s Islamic leaders in global campaigns, including the worldwide effort to free Nigeria’s kidnapped schoolgirls.nigerianislamic association.org
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference carries faith into global justice
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC) is a premier international justice organization for thought leaders and activists in church, academy, and community, built for individual and collective capacity, and founded in 2003. It serves thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and the next generation of social justice workers. Founded by three theological giants, Dr. Iva E. Carruthers, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, and Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who met, prayed, and gave birth to something that could meet the “needs of those who were thirsty for sound biblical knowledge and committed social advocacy.” Today the legacy continues, with Rev. Damien Durr bringing together faith leaders, congregations, and partners around human rights and social justice. As a United Nations nongovernmental organization, it frames its mission
across local, national, and global communities—offering a model of public faith that joins preaching with advocacy and measures leadership by who is protected, heard, and empowered. www,sdpconference.info
Trinity United Church of Christ keeps Africa and the diaspora in view.
Trinity United Church of Christ has long understood that a church on Chicago’s South Side can be rooted in its neighborhood without being confined by it. Known as the first church to place a Stop Apartheid sign on its lawn, the church is today led by Senior Pastor Otis Moss, III. The legacy of Africa Ministry invites members to engage issues affecting Africans on the continent and throughout the diaspora—through
travel, fellowship, economic development, missionary engagement, and financial support—reminding Chicago that the diaspora is not an abstract idea but family, history, and responsibility. Affiliate organizations are Imani Village, The Endelo Institute, Trinity Childcare Center, and Trinity Senior Apartments. www.trinityucc.org
Recognition should become a year-round practice Together, these eight recognitions form a broad picture of men’s service. The African Festival of the Arts brought the diaspora to Chicago. Brilliance and Excellence / invests in boys and young men. Leave No Veteran Behind turns military service into community service. The Nation of Islam carries a message of responsibility across borders. The Nigerian Islamic Association bridges Chicago and Nigeria. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference organizes faith for human rights. Trinity United Church of Christ strengthens spiritual and diasporic connection.
The point of November 19 is not to pretend that men are without struggle. It is to create space for honest attention to health, purpose, responsibility and relationship—and to recognize the men and institutions doing the patient work of repair. The Real Men Charities celebration can become a charge: mentor one young person, protect your health, learn another community’s story, support a ministry, build a coalition and make service visible. From Chicago’s South Side to communities around the world, stronger men should mean stronger families, wider circles of care and a safer future shared by all.
